Yes, many different blood pressure medications can cause erectile dysfunction.

If you’re experiencing erectile dysfunction as a side effect of your blood pressure medication, it’s best to talk to your primary care doctor to consider trying a different medication. They can help you to find one that adequately controls your blood pressure and does not lead to erectile dysfunction.

Yes. Diabetes, in the long run, can create disease of the small arteries and capillaries within our bodies, and these are essential for function. Living with diabetes puts men at increased risk of erectile dysfunction over time.

Absolutely. Nerves must be working normally for a man to get and keep an erection. Nerves can be damaged by diabetes, multiple sclerosis, prostate surgery, or damage to the spinal cord. 

However, it depends on the region where the nerves are damaged. 

• Spinal cord injuries can lead to difficulties with erections. However, erections can be preserved with contact or simulation in many circumstances depending on the level of spinal cord injury.

• Injury to the peripheral nerves, or nerves that travel between the spinal cord and the penis, can result in erectile dysfunction. Common examples of this would be damage to the nerves associated with taking a prostate out for prostate cancer or sometimes after colorectal surgery for colon cancer.

It’s unclear what the ingredients of male enhancement pills are, and because they’re not FDA-approved medication, the level of control over the ingredients and substances in these pills is likely lacking. Therefore, it is possibly damaging. Over-the-counter male enhancement pills are generally not recommended due to these reasons.

Absolutely. Our psychological state is critically important for being able to achieve and maintain erections. If we’re worried about getting an erection or being able to maintain it, or if we have anxiety or feel stressed or tired, these factors can lead to difficulties in getting and maintaining an erection.

These circumstances are treatable but often require some work to train our thought patterns and readapt our sexual approach. Working with professionals such as psychiatrists or psychologists with skill sets in this area can be helpful; using techniques such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or mindfulness therapy can also be helpful.

For some individuals using medications such as phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors such as sildenafil, tadalafil or vardenafil, can help make it easier to get and maintain an erection. Eventually, men can regain their confidence and slowly wean off these medications.

Yes. Anxiety, stress, and unproductive thought patterns can lead to difficulties getting and maintaining an erection.

Yes. In the long run, high blood pressure can cause damage to the small vessels in our bodies. These vessels are important for erectile function. Therefore, men with high blood pressure are at increased risk of developing erectile dysfunction over time.

When no injuries have occurred from masturbation, it is healthy. Regular erections and exercising the cavernous muscle tissue (the erection muscle tissue within the penis) are important for maintaining good, healthy muscle and potentially reducing fibrosis and any plasticity over time.

The muscle within the penis that causes and produces erections is similar to other muscles in the body where we have to exercise them to promote good health and sustained function.

Having regular erections and using these erections is healthy for erectile tissue. There are injuries during sexual activity that can lead to erectile dysfunction; however, that is very uncommon.

There is something called the refractory period where, after orgasm or ejaculation, our bodies enter a period where physiologically it is difficult to obtain another erection. This period increases as we age. When you’re young, it does not take long to generate another erection after orgasm or ejaculation; as you get older, this period lengthens in time, and you will likely have to take longer to be able to obtain an erection.

Prostates don’t necessarily swell. However, prostates can grow and enlarge over time because of a condition known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). This occurs for many men as they age and is associated with erectile dysfunction.

None with conclusive evidence. Some data suggests that healthy vitamin D levels can be associated with good erectile function, and low levels can be associated with erectile dysfunction. More evidence is needed in this space, looking at vitamins and erectile function.

In most circumstances where there is a problem with the mechanisms of erections, there is no curative or regenerative therapy for erectile dysfunction. Most of the treatments available currently aim at optimizing or managing erectile dysfunction to help encourage more normalized function.

If an individual has psychogenic erectile dysfunction where unproductive thought patterns, stressors and anxiety are the underlying cause for difficulties in getting or maintaining an erection, addressing these concerns can cure erectile dysfunction since the physical mechanisms within the penis are otherwise normal.

Yes, often for various reasons. Excessive alcohol use, psychological factors, use of certain medications, lack of sleep, stressors, anxiety, new partners, or distraction can all lead to temporary difficulties with erections. By optimizing these variables, normal erectile function can be restored.

Erectile dysfunction after prostate cancer surgery typically is at its worst in the first six months, and then there’s some degree of recovery for the next two years. Very small improvements may occur up to four years after the surgery. At that point (around two to four years after the surgery), this is likely to become the new baseline of erectile function.

No. Erectile dysfunction is not a sign of prostate cancer.

Not typically. Usually, erectile dysfunction will occur after having had diabetes for some time. However, if diabetes has been present for a long time but has not been diagnosed, then it is possible.

Men with recent COVID-19 infections are at a significantly increased risk of erectile dysfunction.